


Kiss the Birthday Girl

by Kitt_Monroe



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 07:29:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1974189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitt_Monroe/pseuds/Kitt_Monroe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Supposing everyone survived until there was a birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss the Birthday Girl

The redhead slid her ElectroID out of her pocket again and double-checked the date one more time, just to make sure. She had actually double-checked the date about four times today, and not once had she gotten a different result, but it was getting to the point that she wasn't even sure she was reading the calendar on her card right anymore. Or maybe she had set her card to the wrong date before?

What "before" means is that at some point, the sixteen of them had all decided to actually set the calendars on their Electronic Student ID Cards, just so they could keep track of how many days they'd been on the island. They collectively assumed the first day they had arrived to be April third, the day they had been supposed to start school; and so, since they had implemented the plan on the fourth day of their stay on the island, they had set their cards to April sixth.

Koizumi stared carefully at her ElectroID calendar and affirmed that yes, today was the twenty-fourth of April. Three weeks since they'd arrived on the island.

She _knew_ it was the twenty-fourth of April because when she'd woken up to Monobear's morning announcement this morning and turned on her ElectroID, she'd gotten a little notification from the card (accompanied by a cute little celebratory beeping sound) telling her it was her birthday. That had made her particularly happy, because it was the first time one of them had had a birthday since arriving on the island. To be honest, Koizumi had been pretty excited to see what kind of celebration the others might plan for her; after all, a birthday was always a happy occasion, even in a situation where the goal was to kill someone and get away with it.

Now, sitting by herself at her usual table at the hotel restaurant, she was starting to wonder if it wasn't unbelievably conceited of her to expect a big celebration...but she had still kind of expected somebody to at least _acknowledge_ the fact that it was her birthday, which, it should be noted, nobody had done. Despite the fact that it was almost noon already, and despite the fact that almost everyone was gathered in the hotel restaurant, tending to their own business or chatting with other people, and despite the fact that, all things being equal, they had probably gotten notifications on their ElectroIDs as well telling them it was Koizumi's birthday, not a single person had even mentioned it. Nobody had said happy birthday to her, and from what she could hear (not that she was eavesdropping, of course), nobody was talking to anybody else about it.

It wasn't like Koizumi wasn't used to being snubbed _on occasion,_ but she could honestly say she'd never had people just not care about her birthday. Was it rude of her to expect them to go all out for her? She didn't really think so; birthdays were supposed to be a special time for the person having them, or at least that's how Koizumi saw it. Komaeda's birthday was in four days, for example, and Koizumi definitely planned on celebrating that.

She would probably emphasize how different an attitude Komaeda seemed to take toward _her_ birthday by mentioning that he was doing something very not-birthday-related elsewhere in the restaurant--but he wasn't actually even present. Couldn't even be bothered to show up at the restaurant, apparently.

After checking her ElectroID once again, "just to make sure," Koizumi sighed quietly and looked around the restaurant. Nobody was even so much as _looking_ at her, even though her table was right in the center of the room. Tanaka and Souda were engrossed in something Sonia was talking emphatically about; Mioda and Tsumiki were sitting together and exchanging casual conversation; Owari, Nidai, and Togami were standing near the food table and talking very seriously about something (probably food); Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama were sitting together and mostly being silent; Hinata and Nanami were also sitting together and, it appeared, sharing food (which didn't surprise Koizumi in the slightest); Hanamura was also weirdly absent...

But none of those things was the thing that hurt Koizumi the most. The thing that hurt her the most was that, sitting at a table rather far away from Koizumi's, eating all by herself, was Saionji. Normally, Saionji ate next to or at least close by Koizumi, and they always talked about what was going on in each other's days and/or lives. That was actually one of the highlights of Koizumi's day since they'd arrived on the island, and yet for some reason, Saionji had elected to distance herself from Koizumi today. Koizumi couldn't help wondering if it wasn't some kind of coincidence that the Super High-school Level Classical Dancer had chosen this specific day to sit far away.

So apparently, the others didn't plan on making a big deal out of Koizumi's birthday. Yeah, that hurt a little, but she decided that if they didn't want to do a big celebration then hey, that was their decision.

The fact that she still felt slighted, however, combined with the feeling of guilt she couldn't shake _because_ she felt slighted, weighed her down for the rest of breakfast. (Yes, she was eating breakfast at noon. After a couple weeks on a deserted island with no real adult authority, a group of kids will tend to adopt a looser sense of time and when things are supposed to be done.)

Once she was done eating her actually really simple breakfast (just two hot cakes, a decision she had made because she had sort of expected she would be eating something bigger as a birthday dinner later on), she stood and discarded her empty plate on the food table with the others that had been used today. She cast a brief glance toward Owari, Nidai, and Togami, of whom only Owari met her gaze and gave a slight nod as if only to say, "Yes, I see that you are standing close to me. Salutations, person standing close to me."

Without waiting around to see if anyone else was planning on even speaking to her, she hurried down the restaurant stairs and, once she was in the hotel lobby and they could no longer see her, slowed to an unmotivated shuffle. Nobody else came down the stairs with her.

She leaned against the wall directly to the right of the stairwell and sighed again. Why did she feel so offended by this? After all, they _were_ in a "mutual killing" situation here; why would something like a birthday take precedence over trying to find a means of escape, and preventing murders and stuff like that?

And it wasn't like she had been looking forward to this _really_ desperately. She had had a good life, all things considered: she had gotten a decent celebration for each of her first seventeen birthdays, she'd almost never been denied something she wanted, she was always getting to do fun things...

Oh good God, was she spoiled? Was that it? Was it that she _expected_ people to treat her well that she felt so disappointed by this? That was actually a really sickening thing to think; she had never really thought of herself as a greedy person, but...

No, she decided, that wasn't it. She wasn't _spoiled--_ she just had high standards for people. She knew the people around her were capable of great things, and it frustrated her when they couldn't live up to their potential, that was all. And she supposed that throwing her some kind of celebration had been one of her standards for them today.

She was more than a little surprised to realize her throat had tightened up. Why had it done that? Jesus, she wasn't going to start crying, was she? Why would she be crying? There was no justification for her to do that; obviously, this didn't mean the others didn't care about her, it just meant there were more important things to do in this situation than celebrate birthdays.

Even though she really liked the idea of celebrating everyone _else's_ birthdays, but whatever, she guessed.

Just so she would have something to do, she took out her ElectroID yet again and checked the date. "Wow, you sure seem interested in that thing today!" crooned the high-pitched, empty-sounding voice of their unnervingly horrid bear captor.

Koizumi looked up at Monobear with a slight glare. "What do you want?" she asked coolly.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Monobear cackled. "That's like, the sixth time you've checked your Electronic Student ID Card today!" Leaning in closer to her with a particularly wicked grin, he added, "Could it be you're somehow using the information on it to plan a murder? If you are, it'd be a first! I've never seen one of my students use the actual 'electro' part of their ElectroID to kill someone!"

"Can you cut it out with the murder talk?" Koizumi demanded.

"Can you imagine?" Monobear went on, ignoring her completely. "Sweet little Koizumi-san, committing a murder? It's almost too perfect!"

"Shut up!" Koizumi ordered, but her irritated expression reverted to a wistful one after a moment. "Well, now that you're here, can you tell me something?"

"As long as it doesn't involve mice," Monobear replied, shaking somewhat.

"How long have we been on this island? Is it twenty-one days now?" Koizumi inquired.

"Don't remind me," Monobear muttered. "All this time and I haven't been able to convince _any_ of you bastards to murder someone!"

"But it _is_ twenty-one days, right?" Koizumi pressed. "Twenty-one exactly?"

"I would call that about right!" Monobear confirmed. "Why, is there something important about how many days you've been here? And why don't I know about it?"

"Like I would tell you," Koizumi snapped, pushing past him and starting for the lobby entrance.

"Is it a special day?" Monobear called after her, but he didn't attempt to follow her. "Anniversary of some kind? Somebody close to you die?"

Koizumi grit her teeth, and when she heard Monobear yell, "Is it your birthday or something?" she dashed out the double doors and down the few stone steps outside the hotel.

Okay, so she was crying a little. Why shouldn't she? They had completely skipped out on her birthday, even though there was no reason for them not to know about it, and even though they were her friends. Weren't friends supposed to celebrate birthdays? Wasn't that a thing that happened? She would've thought that out of all fifteen of them, at least _one_ of them would have the initiative to be like, "Hey, Koizumi's birthday is today, we should probably do something."

Out of all of them, did none of them think that, even once? Really? Yes, that kind of hurt, and yes, she had a right to feel that way. She would _never_ just screw one of them over like that. Not a single one of them--not even Kuzuryuu, who was a massive jackass, and not even Hanamura, who was almost impossible to tolerate being in the same room with. Mutual killing be damned, she _deserved_ a celebration, even a small one, and if she didn't deserve a celebration, she _at least_ deserved a "happy birthday," some kind of acknowledgment at all that today was special for her.

Crossing her arms tightly and hanging her head low, she ran through the hotel complex, almost falling in the swimming pool in her insulted/confused haze, and took refuge in her own cottage.

She climbed onto her bed and yanked the thin-ass covers up around herself, not even bothering to change clothes beyond violently kicking off her shoes. Yeah, this would get them back, she was going to go to _sleep._ Revenge in it's purest and evilest form.

She didn't stop thinking about how they hadn't even _mentioned_ it. Not even a single "congratulations." Not even a single "hey, look who's eighteen."

Not even from Saionji.

The next thing she was aware of was being shaken softly. The hand on her shoulder was small and gentle, and for a brief moment Koizumi was thankful that she was being awakened without the obnoxious and unnecessary roughness that some people might employ ( _cough cough Kuzuryuu cough cough_ ). However, her gratefulness was quickly overpowered by the return of the lump in her throat when she recognized the high, sweet-as-candy voice that accompanied the hand on her shoulder.

"Wake up, Big Sis Koizumi!" Saionji cooed. For an instant, the irrationality of being sleepy allowed Koizumi to think she might just get away with not waking up if she lay perfectly still, and maybe Saionji would just leave and let Koizumi stew in her own piss-off-ed-ness. But soon enough, Koizumi was fully awake, and she decided she might as well answer.

"Hi, Hiyoko-chan," she mumbled, not wanting to let Saionji know she was upset but at the same time very invested in letting Saionji know she was upset.

"Did you have a nice nap, Big Sis Koizumi?" Saionji asked, and as Koizumi turned her head to look, the dancer had a sugary-looking grin on her face. As much as Koizumi really wanted to be hurt and angry right now, she couldn't help melting when she saw Saionji's smile.

That didn't _stop_ her from being hurt and angry, though. "Yeah, I guess," she replied, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. When she looked out the window, she did a double take; it was almost totally dark outside, with the sun very near fully set. Had she really slept that long?

It wasn't surprising, actually--she always slept for a while when she was upset. She figured if nobody had come to get her she probably would have slept right up until Monobear's Night Time announcement. "So, Hiyoko-chan?" she prompted, exhaling loudly as she spoke. "What did you need?"

"Just for you to come with me," Saionji answered with a slight smirk.

Koizumi blinked a few times, not entirely sure what was about to happen. "Is this going to be quick?" she asked.

"Not at all," Saionji answered instantly, taking Koizumi's hand and pulling her out of the cottage.

"H-Hiyoko-chan!" Koizumi cried as they sprinted (translation: Saionji sprinted and Koizumi tagged helplessly along) down the steps and then the wooden walkway. "Wait, Hiyoko-chan, I don't even have my shoes on!"

"That's okay!" Saionji assured her vaguely.

"B-but where are we going?" Koizumi persisted. "It's almost officially night--what time is it, like eight o'clock?"

"Just about!" Saionji agreed.

Koizumi could honestly say this was one of the more adventurous things that had happened to her today, but as Saionji hung a left at the end of the walkway and dashed in the direction of the old lodge, Koizumi began to seriously wonder what the dancer could want to do at the old lodge at this hour.

A few less-than-classy thoughts flooded her mind as she considered all the _many_ things they could do at the old lodge, noting that the lodge in question was expansive, easy to hide in, and usually a place no one else would find them...but she did her best to shoo away those thoughts as they approached the building.

"After you," Saionji giggled when they reached the door into the lodge. Koizumi stared at her for a few seconds with narrowed eyes before sighing in utter confusion and entering the building.

The first thing she noticed, quite immediately, was that it was pitch black. "Um, Hiyoko-chan?" she wondered. "Did you forget to turn on the lights?"

"Don't worry, Big Sis Koizumi," Saionji assured her from behind, taking her hand again and leading her down the dark hall. Koizumi was glad to be able to follow Saionji's lead, seeing as she literally could not see a thing.

The classical dancer pulled her down a few of the halls before stopping abruptly; Koizumi predictably bumped into her with a hasty "Sorry Hiyoko-chan!"

Suddenly she heard a voice. It obviously wasn't Saionji's voice, and she couldn't really pinpoint exactly whose it was, but she suspected it was one of the boys, and he was laughing. It was kind of a snicker, quiet and immediately shushed by another voice. "Wh-what's going on?" Koizumi demanded.

She then heard the sound of a door opening, and in the next moment she was blinded by a barrage of bright lights and almost defeaned by a caterwauling chorus of "Surprise!"

Koizumi flinched, and then took a couple steps back until her vision finally returned to her. By that point the others had already resumed their cheering:

"Happy birthday, Big Sis Koizumi!" Saionji gushed, wrapping her arms around the photographer and nuzzling against her arms.

"Congratulations, Koizumi!" Nidai laughed.

"Yeah, look who's legal now!" Mioda (for lack of a better word) guffawed.

It was around that point that Koizumi made her way back into the main hall, where everyone else was gathered. She put her hands to her hips and assumed the most bitter expression she could muster. "God's _sake,_ guys!" she cried, silencing them all instantly.

Now that the room was quiet, and now that she could actually see, she took a quick look around the room to see their handiwork. One of the huge tables was stockpiled with party food as well as an _enormous_ cake whose flavor Koizumi couldn't discern but which was covered top to bottom in a heavenly-looking chocolate frosting. There were streamers hung all along the walls, and balloons were tied to every worldly object in the room. A big banner hung across the back wall of the room, reading, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAHIRU."

With Saionji still by Koizumi's side, the other fourteen of them stood across the room, all of them except Tanaka and Togami wearing party hats and Mioda wearing three (presumably the other two had originally belonged to the boys who refused to wear them), and a few of them--Komaeda, Sonia, and Owari--with noisemakers in their mouths. They all looked rather worried now, clearly apprehensive of what Koizumi would say next now that she had their attention.

Koizumi fought a smile trying to edge its way onto her lips. They really _had_ gone all out for her, and it was even better than she'd hoped--but they had screwed around with her all day and made her think they didn't care, so she was going to play this for all it was worth.

"Do you have any _idea_ the anxiety you all caused me today?" she demanded. "All day long you made me think you didn't care at all that it was my birthday, do you know how that made me feel??"

They all gulped, basically in unison. "We're, uh, sorry..." Hinata offered. Always the leader.

"And then, just now? Dragging me through a dark building at this _ungodly_ hour, and then laughing to yourselves at my confusion? Making me think there might be someone else in the lodge with dark intentions or something? That terrified me!" Koizumi went on, but she already knew she couldn't keep up the act much longer.

"We didn't intend to frighten you," Pekoyama assured her, staring at the floor.

"We just wanted to give you a nice surprise," Nanami agreed, fiddling with the straps of her backpack.

"Yeah, you _gave_ me a surprise alright, I mean--" Koizumi stopped all of a sudden, deciding they had suffered enough. In a much warmer tone, she continued: "I mean, thank you so much guys."

They all stared at her as if she had just revealed that she was from the planet Venus. "Wait, you're--you're not mad?" Kuzuryuu ventured.

Koizumi shook her head. "Of course not," she confirmed. "I mean, look at this! You did all of this for me? This is the best surprise I've ever gotten!"

Tsumiki let out a sigh of relief that was more like a fierce gale; Tanaka chuckled to himself and leaned against the wall. "So, Big Sis Koizumi," Saionji mumbled, still next to her, tugging on her sleeve. "Is it enough?"

"Enough?" Koizumi repeated. "Of course it's enough! Like I said, this is the best celebration I've ever had! Plus, I get to spend it with all of you, so...thank you, guys. I really appreciate this."

After a moment of silence, she added, "So wait, Hanamura, did you do the cooking?"

The Super High-school Level Cook nodded eagerly. "Indeed I did, Koizumi-san! I made things we all figured you might like."

"And Komaeda?" Koizumi assumed, pointing at the Super High-school Level Good Luck.

"I did the decorating," Komaeda confirmed with a pleasant smile. "I find it relaxes me."

"So, how's it feel to be eighteen?" Hanamura inquired, collecting some plates and handing them out to everyone.

"I'm not certain, are you of legal drinking age now?" Sonia added. "I do not recall what the age is in Japan."

"Wait, what's the legal drinking age in Novoselic?" Souda asked her.

"Thirteen!" Sonia answered brightly. Souda nearly collapsed.

"So can we start eating now?" Owari asked nobody in particular, accepting a plate from Hanamura and eyeing the table of food with hawk-like precision.

"No, we have to sing to her first!" Mioda insisted.

"Yeah, and then we have to kiss the birthday girl!" Saionji added with a devilish grin.

"We don't _all_ have to, I'm sure," Togami protested.

"If nobody minds, I'll lead the chorus," Komaeda suggested, raising his arms like a conductor would do. They all erupted into a sloppy and off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday," but Koizumi was in no way bothered by their terrible wailing (even Mioda didn't put forth the effort to sing it well). She was too busy crying again--but this time it certainly wasn't out of grief.


End file.
